Shapiro denies trying to arrange plea bargain

Feud rips apart Simpson defense team

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Within hours of the O.J. Simpson case
verdict, a behind-the-scenes rift in the Simpson defense team
became public.

Shapiro blasted two of his defense colleagues. One of them,
F. Lee Bailey, hit back. In an interview with CNN on
Wednesday, Bailey said Shapiro urged Simpson to plead guilty
in exchange for a lighter sentence.

"Bob Shapiro did everything in this world to try to get a
plea bargain going before Johnnie Cochran got in the case
because that was the only way he was going to stay in
control," Bailey said.
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Bailey said Shapiro suggested a deal in which Simpson would
plead guilty to manslaughter and Robert Kardashian, Simpson's long-
time business partner and confidant, would plead guilty as an
accessory after the fact for concealing evidence.

News cameras captured Kardashian walking away with Simpson's
garment bag the day after the murders. Prosecutors raised
questions what Kardashian had done with the bag. "Don't you
want to know what was in that bag?" prosecutor Christopher
Darden asked the jury during closing arguments.

Bailey said that when the scenario was put to Simpson, he got
angry and rejected it. Simpson has consistently maintained
his innocence.

When asked about Bailey's charges, Shapiro told CNN he "never
talked at any time with anybody about a plea bargain."

Gerald Uelman, a member of the defense team, told CNN that
Bailey's charges are "make believe."

Lead prosecutor Marcia Clark told CNN Thursday that
prosecutors never discussed a plea bargain among themselves
or with the defense.

Kardashian couldn't be reached for comment, but he has
repeatedly denied any wrong-doing. At a defense team victory
party Tuesday, he said prosecutors had nothing on him. "If
they had evidence against me, they should have filed charges
against me as an accessory," he said. "I would never do
anything like that, never. I'm a successful businessman. I
would never be an accessory to any crime, let alone double
murder." (285K .aiff sound or 285K .wav sound)

As for what was in the bag, Kardashian said, "I would gladly
have told them what I knew ... which is I don't know. I never
opened it."

Shapiro did not celebrate with the rest of the team the night
after Simpson was freed, but in a broadcast interview he
criticized Cochran for "dealing the race card" and for
comparing Mark Fuhrman to Adolf Hitler.

"I've always said ... race would not and should not be an
element of this case," Shapiro said Thursday on "Larry King."
"On every crucial element in this case there is at least
reasonable doubt, and in many cases real doubt."
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Those clashes produced a bitter end to the long and bitter
trial, and for Bailey, an end to his friendship with Shapiro.

"It doesn't make me feel very badly because Bob has not been
behaving very well lately," Bailey said. "He's said some
awful things to people. He's told people he thought his
client was guilty, which is about as great a transgression as
you can make. O.J. has always said, and to my satisfaction,
demonstrated, otherwise."

King asked Shapiro if he believed Simpson was innocent.
"I don't know, more than you or anyone else," Shapiro said.
"I wasn't there. The only person or persons who know are the
killers."
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